By Josephine Agbonkhese

Yearly, new cases of autism are recorded all over the world while the overwhelming task of managing children with autism continues to tear homes apart. Recent statistics from the Center for Disease Control indicates autism is the fastest growing developmental disability with a 10-17 percent annual growth rate.

Little wonder the United Nations has since 2008 dedicated the month of April to creating awareness on the disorder, tagging it ‘International Autism Awareness Month’. Lipstick brings to your fingertips facts about autism commonly described as a complex neuro-developmental disorder that typically appears during the first three years of life as a result of a malfunction in the brain, and lasts a lifetime unless tackled head-on and early.

Identifying autism:

Though autistic children and adult may look normal, they are plagued by a range of symptoms that include difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions and leisure or play activities. Most of them have no speech (can’t talk) but often try to repeat words or phrases they hear – an event called echolalia.

Also, autistics find it much harder to understand the feelings of other people or empathize with others.

They hate being cuddled or touched and also find sudden loud noises, smell and changes in intensity of lightening unbearable. Either cognitive or language skills development might be very slow for them. Overall, the disorder is four times more common in boys than in girls.

Cause:

Despite its steady rise globally, there is no known cause for autism. Research however focuses on environmental, genetic factors as well as incompatibility. Mothers who are exposed to more traffic-air pollution during pregnancy are also said to have a higher risk of having a child with autism. Influenza, persistent fever and antibiotic usage during pregnancy are also said to increase the risk.

A US-based integrated care consortium, Kaiser Permanente, is however about to begin what is believed to be the largest genetic research project ever conducted by a health organization into the causes of autism. The research will gather biological and health information from 5,000 families who have a child with the disorder.

Prevalence:

Latest government figures in the United States says autism occurs in 1 in 68 children. A couple of years ago, it was 1 in 88. Few years before, this statistics was put at 1 in 110 while the UK and South Africa recorded a prevalence of 1 in 150 with Korea having a prevalence of 1 in 38 children.

Statistics for Nigeria:

Unfortunately, there are no statistics for Nigeria even though more children are being diagnosed with autism. Mrs.Bolanle Adewole, Director, The Learning Place Centre, a centre catering for children with autism and related disorders in Lagos, however says the ratio by the United States is much lower than what obtains in her Nigeria-based centre. “Out of every twenty children, we have three with autism,” she said. Bolanle has an 11-year-old son who has almost overcome autism.

“From my own experience, autism is five times more common than Down Syndrome and three times more common than Juvenile Diabetes,” revealed Mrs.Dotun Akande, a Nigerian expert who founded the first school for autistic children in Nigeria, Patrick Speech & Languages Centre, PSLC, in 2006. Dotun is the mother of a 16-year-old boy who was diagnosed with autism at age two.

Cure:

There is no known cure for autism. However, specialist education and structured support can really make a difference to a person with autism, helping them to maximise skills like Albert Einstein and achieve full potential in adulthood.

Future:

Science says more families will come up with autism in the coming years. In fact, more children will be diagnosed with autism than with AIDS, diabetes and cancer combined. Why this is so remains unknown. Already, centres in Nigeria like PSLC are already overwhelmed by the increasing number of families who come for help on a regular basis even though they had set out to cater for very limited number of children.

“This also means that a significant number of our young adults globally would be individuals with autism unless something is done to forestall this! PSLC for example has had to cater for hundreds of children since 2006 when we actually started with only two children,” Dotun added.

Early intervention:

Children with autism who received early intervention tend to have better brain function, communication skills, overall social behaviour and live more independent lives compared to autistic children with no early intervention. Many mothers have attested to this. Parents Against Autism Initiative, PAAI, a Nigeria-based organization comprising mothers whose children are on the autism spectrum, has been in the forefront of this campaign for early intervention since about a couple of years ago when it was jointly founded.

Both Dotun and Bolanle’s sons are testimonies to early intervention via therapy and special education as well. “My son is 16 now and he has long been in regular school. He is one of the pupils topping his class!” Dotun told Lipstick. “My own son is coping excellently as well. His only challenge now is sensory disorders but other than that, he can now read, comprehend, play the piano, swim, engage in athletics, etc. His vocabulary is much wider, and he expresses himself well,” Bolanle said of hers.